Media PC
See also New PC.
Storage
Current
Drives
sda | 300 GB Maxtor 6V300F0 | 200 GB md0 RAID (backups) / 100 GB raw |
sdc | 1000 GB Seagate | boot |
sdb | 500 GB WDC WD5000KS-00MNB0 | 200 GB md0 RAID (backups) / 300 GB raw |
Partitions
raidunusedsda1 | 243175873 | md0 |
sda2 | 39070080 | VMs |
sdb1 | 243175873 | |
sdb2 | 19535040 | boot |
sdc1 | 243175873 | raid |
sdc2 | 733584127 | unused |
sde1 | 488384001 |
New
sda | 300 GB Maxtor 6V300F0 | OS(s), VMs + swap |
sdb | 500 GB WDC WD5000KS-00MNB0 | 500 GB md0 RAID 1 (backups) |
sdc | 1 TB Seagate ST31000340AS | 500 GB md0 RAID 1 (backups) / 500 GB raw (media, temp) |
Steps to configure Linux system with RAID drive
- full normal backup
- identify other files to preserve
- media on /mnt/media and /mnt/spare, VMs on /mnt/spare
- backup files
- add new drive via sata
- create raid and media partitions
- copy media and VMs to tb media
- suspend VMs
- make sure documentation is available during process
- unmount affected volumes
- repartition existing 500gb http://www.unix-tutorials.com/go.php?id=620
- shut down and configure internal drives
- add tb as sdc
- temporarily remove 300GB
- check into /etc/fstab using drive IDs
- reboot
- re-start VMs
- set up tb RAID1 and start mirror
- in future, reinstall boot/vm to 300gb, remove 80gb
Comments on RAID
Using RAID 5 is more complex, but when a drive fails (as did the ST31000340AS) under warranty, sending it back has no data security risk.
External
- Maxtor 200 GB - media
- Maxtor 500 GB - backups
50 GB free (June 24/2008). est. 100 GB RAID can be cleared up, 200GB moved external.
NCQ performance on Seagage 7200.11 - http://forums.storagereview.net/index.php?showtopic=26006
The problem with the above config is the array is spread across all working drives, so there can't be fast directory to directory copies. Solution is to move to something like this:
500 + 500 raid1 300gb boot + working/media external 1tb 500gb backup + 500gb working/media
Video
NVidia En7300GT silent
New card? - ASUS EN9600GT Silent - http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUwMSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA== would need a new case.
Etc
- Antec nsk2400
- Asus P5B-VM
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
- 4 X 1 GB ?? DDR-2 RAM
Linux Multimedia
Audio
Need 7.1 digital (optical) audio pass-through capability
wii dvd etc | | | [ 52xv540u tv ] | | toslink w/ dolby digital 7.1 | [ computer ] | | toslink w/ dolby digital 7.1 | [amp] | speakers